Lead Safe Mama, LLC Sent 12 Children’s Supplements In For Lab Testing — 75% tested positive for Lead; 42% for Cadmium; 58% for Arsenic (33% were positive for all three).

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Published: December 31, 2024
Tuesday

Lead Safe Mama, LLC  (a unique, community-collaborative, Portland, Oregon based, woman-owned small business for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety) sent twelve children’s vitamins to the lab for toxicant testing in 2024. Nine of the 12 samples (75%) tested positive for Lead, five of the 12 samples (42%) tested positive for Cadmium, and seven of the 12  samples (58%) tested positive for Arsenic. 33% of the samples (four products) tested positive for all three (Lead, Cadmium, & Arsenic).

Lead Safe Mama,LLC provides direct-to-consumer, unbiased, replicable science in an effort to educate parents about toxicity concerns in popular products so consumers can make informed choices for their families.

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Article Index

1. No Safe Level of Lead Exposure
2. Size Doesn’t Matter
3. Achievable By Industry
4. Community Nominated: We are testing what Lead Safe Mama community members want us to test.
5. Community Funded: The cost of testing and reporting for the food and supplement items is being funded by members of the Lead Safe Mama Community
6. Our Process (Sending Samples to the Lab)
7. The Twelve Children’s Vitamin Products Sent to the Lab by Lead Safe Mama, LLC in 2024
8. In Conclusion
9. Safer Choices & Detox Protocols
10. A Final Thought (Environmental & Economic Impacts)

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1. No Safe Level of Lead Exposure

All Federal agencies agree that there is no safe level of Lead exposure for children. The concern for Lead toxicity in ingested items (foods, supplements, beverages) is measured in Parts Per Billion. For example, the American Academy of Pediatrics has determined that water that tests positive for Lead at levels above one (1) part per billion (ppb) is not safe for consumption by children. The federal limit on Lead in bottled water is set at five (5) parts per billion.

In 2021, the scientific and medical community proposed “Action Levels” for heavy metals in products that may be consumed by children, in an attempt to regulate (and standardize the regulation of) the presence of heavy metals, with “The Baby Food Safety Act“. These proposed Action Levels were based on total content limits (vs. “serving size” limits) that were both the most protective of human health, yet also achievable by industry. The Baby Food Safety Act of 2021 did not propose limits for supplements and vitamins that may be consumed by children – only for foods and cereals. The 2021 proposed Action Levels were 5 ppb Lead; 10 ppb Arsenic; 5 ppb Cadmium; and 2 ppb Mercury. Industry pushed back (insisting the proposed Action Levels) were not achievable, and the Baby Food Safety Act was not passed into law. In the United States, no legislated / mandated total content limits for heavy metals — as measured in ppb, for any quantity of a product consumed — have ever been set for foods, vitamins and supplements consumed by children. 

“But I heard ‘natural’ Lead is safe Lead?”
This is an outlandish myth pushed by the supplement industry. It is simply not true.

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2. Size doesn’t matter.

Standards (like Prop 65) based on “serving size” related metrics set permissible levels for Lead consumption — a substance that has no safe level and should therefore have no permissible level.

• The regulatory limits that do currently exist are not protective of children’s health – and are based on so-called “serving sizes” as a means of evaluating and “measuring” and ostensibly limiting total toxicant consumption (in normally ingested sources) by young children.
• While one might argue that the “serving size” of a pill or vitamin is strictly noted on the packages and it is unlikely for a child to have more than a normal “serving size” of one of these products, the “serving size” argumentation is irrelevant, given the fact that all federal agencies agree there is no safe level of Lead exposure.
• The entire idea of a “serving-size” based exposure limit is outdated (Prop 65 first became a California State law in 1986), and new limits that take current science into account and are therefore protective of children’s health regardless of  the manufacturer’s suggested “serving size” for any product consumed, need to be adopted and federally enforced.

Even if there were some hypothetically agreed upon  “acceptable amount” of Lead consumption each day for a child, the “serving size” metric (determined by the manufacturers themselves / “industry standards”) is not a realistic basis for determining safe levels of consumption of highly toxic contaminants. We most commonly use the examples of a candy bar, or a bag of potato chips to illustrate this concept. An individual size 5-ounce bag of potato chips typically lists “5 servings” in the bag! If you have tweens or teens (or even pre-k age kiddos with healthy appetites) you know that many children (regardless of their age or size) will often sit down and consume an entire bag of chips [5-ounce, 8-ounce – or even 12-ounce!] in one sitting, eating all “5+ servings” at once).

Regulatory standards that rely on “serving size” assume that the “typical person” will eat “just one serving” of a product- so if a brand is  compliant – based on “serving size”, that compliance often goes out the window when the serving size is not an accurate measure of common / anticipated consumption patterns in real-life scenarios. For chocolate bars – the logic is similar, many typical chocolate bars have “3” or more “servings” in a bar – and compliance with toxicity standards is based on the consumption of a “single serving” — when, in actuality, many people are far more likely to sit and eat multiple “servings” — or even the entire chocolate bar in one sitting (and with the recent dietary and nutrition fad, have even been encouraged to do so by doctors unaware of toxicity concerns and convinced of the “health benefits” of dark chocolate!)

But… you say… chocolate bars, and potato chips are not supplements. Yes – that is obvious…but when food and supplement toxicant concerns are based on “serving size”, and when kids are eating more than a single “serving” of a toxic snack in a sitting (that may, for example, test positive for 5 to 20 ppb Lead, and 5 to 50 ppb Cadmium) and then adds one or more nutritional supplements to their diet – in a pill that might have much higher levels of those same toxicants (for example, 60 ppb Lead, or 102 ppb Cadmium, or 310 ppb Arsenic – see supplements in chart above), children’s bodies become quickly overburdened with toxicants – toxicants which accumulate in the body over a lifetime and work together to disrupt nearly every possible biological function, causing increased risk of cognitive impairments; digestive and immune system impacts, kidney disease; heart disease; reproductive disorders; and more.

To reiterate, the above argument is only relevant if one considers “serving size” to be relevant. “Serving size” is not relevant any longer (if it ever was), as the evidence-based data – and consequently, the narrative / recommendations from the scientific, medical, and regulatory community – has dramatically shifted over the past four decades. At this point Federal agencies (EPA, CDC, HUD, USDA, FDA) agree with the findings of the scientific and medical community that there is no safe level of Lead exposure for humans — particularly for children. Levels of Lead exposure that are so low they were previously “not measurable” by most medical facilities have now been clearly demonstrated by recent scientific studiens to cause long-term negative health impacts ranging from early-onset heart disease to cognitive decline and infertility.

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3. Achievable by Industry

In addition to the argumentation above supporting the need for children’s vitamins and supplements [products alleging to improve  and support health] to test non-detect for Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, & Arsenic, while industry pushed back in 2021 against the proposed Action Levels because they said they “were not achievable”, the fact of the matter is that these levels ARE DEMONSTRABLY ACHIEVABLE. In Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s food and supplement laboratory testing in 2024, we have already published 229 laboratory reports so far (link here), and of those 229 products, 49 have met the standards proposed by the Baby Food Safety Act of 2021. That is more than one or two compliant anomalies – that is 21.4% of products tested!

Given we have already found 21.4% of products (products chosen fairly at random – see more on how they were chosen below) to fall within standards that are safe for consumption by children, we KNOW these levels are achievable by industry. The food & supplement industry argumentation for not making safer products for children is thus revealed to be disingenuous . You can see the list of the 49 safer products here, and you can find links to the lab reports for each of those products here. 

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4. Community Nominated
We are testing what Lead Safe Mama Community Members Want Us To Test

The products we have chosen to test — we have sent about 300 products to the lab in 2024, and are working on publishing some of the outstanding test results (as well as waiting to get a final handful of reports back from the lab) — have been chosen by the Lead Safe Mama online community.

These food and supplement products are popular products from popular brands which mothers and fathers around the country have asked us to test. In many cases they are brands / products that make promises (through their brand name or other marketing materials) to be “the cleanest”, or “stringently tested” and/or guaranteed to “not have any detectable heavy metals”, or to be “the best” in some other way from the perspective of being “pure” and “healthful”. Often, parents are suspicious of companies that make these claims, and want to find out for themselves if the products are as safe as they are marketed to be.

• Our community members nominate products for Lead Safe Mama, LLC to coordinate testing and reporting on the product (budget here).
• Lead Safe Mama, LLC has been doing this laboratory testing of foods and supplements since March of 2024 (In June of 2024 Consumer Reports Magazine collaborated with us for follow up testing and reporting on the Lead contamination in cassava based children’s snack products).
• We choose products to test that are nominated by our community, with laboratory testing and reporting then funded directly by our community as well.

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5. Community Funded
The cost of testing and reporting for the food and supplement items is being funded by members of the Lead Safe Mama Community

The Lead Safe Mama community included almost 2.3 million unique individual readers of the Lead Safe Mama website around the world in the 2024 calendar year, in addition to 95,000 followers on Instagram and Facebook (with some overlap).

• Single Sponsor Funding: Funding for the testing is occasionally provided by a single person or family within our readership. Some families have Lead-impacted children and want to make sure their favorite foods are clean. Other families have genetic / generational issues that they are trying to protect their children from being impacted by, and so want help finding cleaner products in specific product categories. About 70 of the products we have tested have been funded in this manner.
• ProBono Testing: Some of our product testing has been donated by the lab service we have been using (GoSimpleLab.com). 
  • They donated the testing of the first 6 products we sent to the lab in March of 2024 and then – in more recent months – have donated the laboratory testing of eight items each month.
  • We choose items to test – using this pro bono opportunity –  for which testing has been requested by the community, but either the campaign has not funded, or we do not expect a campaign to fund for the particular product.
  • We also  sometimes choose complementary products to previous testing we have done to see if additional testing of similar products might shine some light on the toxicity issues we are uncovering within a specific product or ingredient category (for example, much of our potato chip testing was pro bono, and some was crowd funded – so now we have a more comprehensive understanding of contamination of potato chips of all types & ingredient profiles – including organic and conventionally grown options).
  • For this probono testing we are also not raising funds to cover our costs for coordinating the testing and publishing the test results – we cover these costs in part through our advertising income and income generated through our Amazon Affiliate partnership. Testing and Reporting for about 54 of the products we have tested so far has been sponsored in this manner.
• Crowd-Sourced Funding: Most of the testing has been funded with collaborative pooling of funds (using gofundme or other collection methods) to fund the testing of a food or supplement product once it has been nominated by our community.
  • We have coordinated about 200 campaigns using the GoFundMe platform – those can be found on this link.
  • In most cases – 20 or 30 people have each contributed something towards covering the cost of laboratory testing and reporting on a product. The remainder of the products have been paid for by the community in this manner.
• Corporations / Manufacturers have Contributed in Support of some of the Crowd-Sourced Funding we have coordinated. Early on in this process we informally polled the community and there was consensus that if a company wanted to contribute in support of having Lead Safe Mama, LLC test their products, we should take their money (as it would help us get these products tested faster!) The Lead Safe Mama community overwhelmingly agreed that they trust us to continue to be ethical and transparent in all of this testing and not let contributions from corporations influence our reporting on their products. The companies that made contributions in 2024 are:
  • Little Spoon: When Little Spoon found out we were testing their products, they agreed to cover the cost of all of the testing for the 9 products of theirs we chose to send to the lab.
    • Unfortunately this was part of our September testing, most of which needed to be re-tested because the low thresholds of detection for the original reports we received that month were not low enough to meet our standards, so we did need to re-test their products a second time, and this was not sponsored in any way.
    • $4,455.00 was contributed by Little Spoon in September of 2024 towards the testing of 9 products. 
  • Amara Smoothie Melts: Amara contributed $385.00 to one of the GoFundMe campaigns we had for their products.
  • Bobbie Infant Formula: The owner of Bobbie contributed to cover the cost of all three of their products when they learned we were launching gofundme campaigns to test them. $1,650 was contributed on October 27, 2024 to cover the cost of testing and reporting for three baby formula products.
  • WeNatal contributed $30 in support of one of the GoFundMe campaigns to test their products in December.
  • Mary Ruth’s did not contribute to help with the cost of testing and reporting for the two Mary Ruth products we have tested to date (testing and reporting done in October of 2024), but contributed $2,000 to Lead Safe Mama, LLC in support of our general fund (on GoFundMe) in December of 2024.

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6. Our Process (Sending Samples To The Lab)

Once the funding for testing and reporting on a given product has been raised we have the following process:

1. We process an order for the lab testing (We pay the lab!)
2. The lab sends us processing codes and collection materials
3. Before engaging in sample collection, we thoroughly clean the sample collection area using contamination-clean up protocols (to make sure there is no contaminated surface or possible contamination in the collection area). We also thoroughly clean our hands and make sure we are wearing clean clothing. When appropriate in transferring a sample to the collection container, we wear a new pair of disposable gloves.
4. We send samples in to the lab “blind”  (to prevent any potential bias from the lab – no matter how unlikely).
   • Samples are transferred from their original packaging  directly into sterile sample collection vessels.
   • We assign an internal code / product description to the sample so that the lab does not know the identity of the product (neither the brand nor the specific product) based on our description of the product.
5. We video record the sample collection process – to note the time, packaging of the sample, expiration date, & batch info of the sample.
6. We send the samples into the lab via Fedex.
7. Note: While the lab has been donating the testing of 8 products each month in recent months, we otherwise pay full retail cost for the ultra-low-level testing of foods and beverages. This is $239 per sample. The lab actually created this low level testing option (and the new, higher rate to cover the costs) specifically to meet the standards of Lead Safe Mama, LLC.
8. We pack up any remaining sample (or any empty packaging if the whole amount of a product was sent in as a sample)  in a box that is dated and marked with our internal batch codes. We hold on to these samples in storage for 6 months in case we need to share follow up information with companies (companies who are curious about our results and interested in making change for the better typically ask for the batch info of the exact product we have tested, and we are happy to provide that information).

As a result of Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s community collaborative process, the test results for these products are truly independent, unbiased, third party laboratory testing.

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7. The Twelve Children’s Vitamin Products Sent to the Lab by Lead Safe Mama, LLC in 2024 Are As Follows:

1. Mary Ruth Toddler Multivitamin
   • This product tested non-detect for Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, & Arsenic when it was tested as part of the Lead Safe Mama, LLC food and supplement laboratory testing initiative in October of 2024.
   • That same month we also tested a prenatal vitamin from the same company, and that prenatal was positive for Lead.
   • The company (Mary Ruth’s) responded by vowing to meet the standards we are proposing above [as articulated in the Baby Food Safety Act of 2021, extending the proposed health-protective limits to supplements].
   • They reported to us in December of 2024 that they had put hundreds of thousands of dollars into ensuring their products are in compliance with these science-based standards and that their current round of testing has been successful. We have not yet confirmed this but are excited to test more of their products in the future to see if they have achieved these most stringent health-protective standards. 
   • As noted above, In December of 2024 Mary Ruth’s also contributed $2,000 to the general GoFundMe supporting the operating costs and legal costs of Lead Safe Mama, LLC (link here).
2. Ddrops Vitamin D (for babies) tested well. We have had no communication with the company, and have not heard from them on social media.
3. Yummy NovaFerrum Liquid Iron (Pink Box), tested positive for Arsenic. Low thresholds of detection for Lead, Cadmium, and Mercury were too high to determine safety in those areas for this product, so this product should be re-tested to lower thresholds of detection for those metals. We have had no communication with the company, and have not heard from them on social media.
4. Smarty Pants Kids Multi & Omega tested positive for Lead. The company did not publicly respond to Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s findings that we are aware of.
5. Nordic Naturals Children’s DHA tested positive for Lead. The company did not publicly respond to Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s findings that we are aware of.
6. Renzo’s Pick Eater Multi with Iron tested positive for Lead and Cadmium. The company did not publicly respond to Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s findings that we are aware of.
7. VitaKlenz for Kidz tested positive for Lead and Arsenic. The company did not publicly respond to Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s findings that we are aware of.
8. Pure Encapsulations Junior Nutrients tested positive for Lead, Cadmium, & Arsenic. This product tested positive for the highest level of Cadmium when compared to all of the other children’s vitamins and supplements we tested.The company did not publicly respond to Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s findings that we are aware of.
9. SeekingHealth Kids Multivitamin Chewable tested positive for Lead, Cadmium, & Arsenic. The level of Lead found in this vitamin was higher than 66% of the other children’s supplements we tested. The company responded to our findings in defensive “attack” mode, deflecting blame, asserting and doubling down on the safety of their product, and attempting to discredit Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s scientific findings related to their Children’s Vitamins. Most of this transpired on Instagram and has been preserved for posterity with screenshots.
10. HIYA Children’s Vitamins tested positive for Lead, Cadmium, & Arsenic. This product had the highest level of Arsenic that we have found in a children’s vitamin.
    • The company responded (to Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s findings  of Lead, Cadmium, and Arsenic in their children’s vitamins) in defensive “attack” mode, deflecting blame, asserting and doubling down on the safety of their product, and attempting to discredit Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s scientific findings related to their Children’s Vitamins.
    • They also created a “hit piece” video and website attempting to discredit our work.
    • In an effort to combat negative pushback they got from the online / social media community in response to Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s published lab report related to their product, they also (in violation of new FTC rules, finalized on August 22, 2024, and enforceable as of 10/21/2024 – this law, link) paid people to leave positive comments on their social media threads to boost the positive image of their products (proof of this was provided to us by members of our online community) – and had their staff and management post positive reviews without disclosure (also a violation of the new law). We saved evidence of this activity happening both before and after the date on which the new law became enforceable.
    • Most of this transpired on Instagram  and Facebook and has been preserved for posterity with screenshots and some follow up articles here on Lead Safe Mama dot com.
11. EllaOla’s Toddler’s Multivitamin tested positive for Lead, Cadmium, & Arsenic: The company did not publicly respond to Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s findings that we are aware of.
12. Flintstones Vitamin + Extra Iron tested positive for Lead and Arsenic. This is the highest level Lead we have found in a children’s vitamin to date. The company states on its’ packaging that it is the “#1 pediatrician recommended” brand. The company did not publicly respond to Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s findings that we are aware of.

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8. In conclusion:

There’s no safe level of Lead exposure for children. Cadmium is a known carcinogen. Arsenic is also a known carcinogen. With our community-funded independent laboratory testing of about 300 foods and supplements in 2024, we have definitively proven that the total content limits for heavy metals (as measured in parts per billion) in items intended for consumption by children — as proposed in the Baby Food Safety Act of 2021 —are achievable. Children’s vitamins and supplements that are being sold with purported health benefits should not contain any heavy meals – especially not any at levels that measure above single digit parts billion. At this point – given what we know – the levels of toxicants in children’s vitamins and supplements should not fall above: 4 ppb Lead, 4 ppb Cadmium, 1 ppb Mercury, and  9 ppb Arsenic.  These limits should extend to all packaged, processed foods and supplements as children eat all foods (not just foods “intended for children”) and children can be impacted by all supplements (especially and including prenatal vitamins and other supplements that may be consumed by women who eventually conceive and give birth to babies).

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9. Safer Choices & Detox Protocols

Safer Choices

Many parents look to us for safer choices. While Lead Safe Mama, LLC does share safer choices when we come across them (and there are two safer choices in this set of 12 children’s supplements we have tested), we promise never to share choices that test positive for Lead with independent third party laboratory testing. What this means is that we may not have yet found a safer choice for the product type you are looking to use. Our recommendation regarding children’s supplements is that you should ask your doctor if your child needs supplementation and if so, which supplements they recommend (which brand and which specific product). We also encourage you to ask them why they recommend that product and brand, and if they have any financial ties to that brand or product (an affiliate relationship or similar).

• Go home and research the product that your medical provider recommended.
• Is this a product being promoted and sold online by influencers without a medical or science background? If so – that’s a red flag.
• Contact the company directly and ask to see the COA (Certificate Of Analysis) for the product.
• Do they not have a COA? That’s a red flag!
• Ask the company if they do batch-specific testing, and – if the answer is no – ask what the frequency of their testing is.
• If the COA presents the test results as measured in Parts Per Million (ppm), or quantifies the Lead exposure by “serving size”, you may want to consider looking for another product (or asking your doctor for another product recommendation), or nominating it for testing through our initiative to determine the toxicant levels for the recommended product in ppb (nomination link here).
• You may also want to ask your doctor if you can avoid supplementation entirely (especially if your child does not have a diagnosed medical condition requiring certain supplements) and instead emphasize certain dietary changes if they determine (through testing) that your child is deficient in any area.

Our concern is that — in today’s culture — there is a consumer expectation to demand a “safer swap” if they are going to be giving up the use of a product. Unfortunately, at this time, safer swaps do not yet exist in all product classes. Rating products as “safer” because they have less Lead than other products is a misguided and irresponsible approach (albeit an approach taken by many journalistic outlets and consumer protection agencies). A children’s vitamin that merely has a lower amount of Lead than another is still a vitamin that has Lead. Given there is no safe level of Lead exposure for children a “lower Lead option” (in our opinion) is not a “safer alternative” to one that has a higher amount of Lead. Of those options, neither product should be chosen.

What’s the answer then?
Societally we need to demand more from our government and more from manufacturers. We need to demand products that are fundamentally safe for children (safe by ALL standards). Products that are sold as health-protective or health-restorative supplements should be especially closely monitored and regulated. The first steps in supporting this movement towards cleaner products is conducting the scientific testing of products and reporting on the test results (as we are doing) – clearly demonstrating the scope of the problem with concrete, replicable science. The second step is sharing the science with the public, communicating the scope and background of the issue in a way that makes sense so that people understand that we truly do have a problem. Once we generate societal concern / outrage over the pervasive nature of this problem, there will be opportunities for next steps. One such “next step” could be in the form of drafting, promoting, & supporting regulatory initiatives with truly health-protective standards. Absent societal awareness of the problem, the political will to create change cannot be generated.

Detox Protocols

Parents also reach out to us about “Detox Protocols”. They want to know how they should detox themselves (or their child) if they have been consuming XYZ contaminated product on a regular basis.

1. First it is important to emphasize that you can’t undo the past and the most important thing when it comes to Lead exposure is “primary prevention” – preventing new / additional exposure BEFORE it happens. 
   • Focus on the future and make changes now that will benefit your family members and safeguard their health.
2. A second important point is that Lead exposure (especially persistently, chronic, daily, low level exposure that one might have from daily ingestion of an isolated Lead-contaminated vitamin or food) isn’t necessarily reflected in a blood Lead test or urine test.
   • If you have been exposed to toxicants through regularly ingesting a contaminated product (or if you have concerns that you may have been exposed) it is prudent to get tested (especially if you have not been tested in a while), but getting tested may not answer all of your questions and here’s why:
     • Most clinics, hospitals, and doctor’s offices don’t have blood Lead testing equipment sensitive enough to test down to a Blood Lead Level  (BLL) of 0.1 microgram of Lead per deciliter of blood or lower.
     • The low thresholds of detection that are common at clinics are typically 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 3.3, 3.5, or 5.0 micrograms of Lead per deciliter of blood.
     • Harm has been demonstrated (through scientific studies) with levels as low as a BLL of 0.43, so  – if possible – it is good to find out if you are a BLL of 0.3 or 0.5 for example… not just “Less than 2.0” .
   • To help ensure you get the most accurate testing done in your area, we have several different articles that discuss that and may be of help:
     • This one
     • This one 
     • This one
     • & This one
   • Most single-source ingested exposure (if you are only ingesting ONE contaminated product on a regular basis) will not result in a raised BLL at all, but getting tested is a good way to rule things out.
   • If you do test positive it is a good call to action, but if you don’t test positive that does not mean you should continue ingesting a lead contaminated product. Lead bio-mimics calcium and the half-life of Lead in the blood is fairly short (30 to 45 days), so if you have been taking a lead contaminated product for  a very long time, the likelihood is that much of that Lead has been absorbed by Calcium rich structures in your body (organs, bones, etc,) and it is no longer circulating in the blood.
   • If you have had an expected prolonged exposure – and if you are not pregnant – you may want to ask your doctor about getting a provoked urine test, which might give a better picture of long-term exposure than a blood Lead test would. A urine test is also more likely to test for a full heavy metals panel (which should give you a sense of potential Arsenic, Cadmium, Mercury, and Antimony exposures as well).
3. A third important point if detox is still on your mind:  we recommend you focus on food-based detox protocols if your doctor feels that is an appropriate course of action for you.
   • Garlic and blueberries (as well as some other plants) are great natural detox agents, that have been scientifically proven to be effective. Published scientific studies have demonstrated that Garlic has been shown to be as effective as – or even more effective than – pharmaceutical interventions for chelation done in a hospital setting. In response to this recent research, some hospitals are now combining pharmaceutical interventions with garlic, as the results can be better (and results in fewer side effects). You can read more about that here.
   • It is important to know that many “potions” and purported “detox protocols” that involve non-food-based products (like clays and fulvic acid, etc.) can actually be heavily contaminated with Lead, Cadmium, Arsenic, Mercury and even Antimony . They can actually CAUSE Lead poisoning and they should never be consumed. You can read more about that here.

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10. A Final Thought (Environmental & Economic Impacts)

For other journalists and environmental activists reading this, in addition to the toxicity concerns, I think we need to also examine the predatory nature of the new “subscription culture” for foods and supplements intended for consumption by children.

Many of these products (Hiya is a good example) have a subscription model for purchasing. In the case of Hiya – a marketing angle is that they assert that the “refill” model (buying refills for their glass bottles) is more environmentally friendly than other packaging options for supplements (like disposable, single-use, plastic bottles). However when you look at all of the  packaging and transportation impacts that go with each refill pack – along with the small quantity of portions in each refill pack, the environmental impact is equal to (or worse than) disposable plastic packaging of more conventional products you might buy at your local market or drug store.

On top of those considerations, the mechanisms to “unsubscribe” from these subscription model purchases are murky at best – and while we understand that there are some regulatory initiatives directed at making it easier for people to unsubscribe from monthly services that automatically withdraw money out of their bank account each month – I personally subscribed to (and unsubscribed from) the Hiya service, the EllaOla service, and the Little Spoon service to purchase products for this testing. I found each subscription system complex and hard to navigate. In fact – I have to go check if my unsubscribe for “Little Spoon” ever went through!

The subscription model for nourishing your child seems to fundamentally be a packaging-heavy predatory money grab (preying on young parents who are just trying to do their best) and needs to be considered very carefully (and is possibly ripe for some regulatory intervention).

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For those new to the Lead Safe Mama website:

Tamara Rubin is a multiple-federal-award-winning independent advocate for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety, and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children (two of her four sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005).

• Tamara owns and runs Lead Safe Mama, LLC — a unique community collaborative woman-owned small business for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety.
• Since July 2022, the work of Lead Safe Mama, LLC has been responsible for six product recalls (FDA and CPSC).
• All test results reported on this website are science-based, accurate, and replicable.
• Please check out our press page to see some of the news coverage of our work, linked here.

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For Questions or Press Inquiries (Including Scheduling an Interview with Tamara Rubin)
Contact: Serina@LeadSafeMama.com